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Researchers at Boston University and the University of Southern California have developed a technique of spiraling data beams through fiber-optic cable that holds promise for making the Internet faster. They report sending 1.6 terabits per second over 1 kilometer with the technique.

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Google is picking up part of the tab for a new undersea fiber-optic cable linking Brazil and the U.S., a $60 million project scheduled for completion by the end of 2016. The cable will have six fiber pairs and will be able to transmit data at up to 64 terabits per second. Its U.S. terminus will be in Boca Raton, Fla.

An international group of telecom and Internet companies led by Google, China Telecom and NEC has completed work on an ultrafast trans-Pacific fiber link that supports data rates of 28 Tbps among six Asian nations. Work on the 8,900-kilometer undersea link began in 2011 and cost roughly $400 million to complete.

A simple pen embedded with fiber-optic cables and a sheet of colored paper are the keys that allow researchers to study the brains of children with learning difficulties. As a child writes on the paper, doctors can observe brain patterns using functional MRI while correlating those readings with the most minute movements of the pen, which is linked to a computer.

SBC Communicationsand Verizon Communications are spending billions of dollars to expand their fiber-optic networks and improve technology to send video to their phone and Internet customers. Analysts say telecom companies may have a more difficult time getting into the video services than cable had in getting into the phone market because telcos face significant regulatory hurdles.